Half Of Congress Receives Poor Grades From Naacp

Half of the U.S. Congress was given an F for failing to support civil rights laws in a legislative report card issued on Wednesday by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The civil rights group gave failing grades to any member of the House or Senate who voted as the NAACP wished less than 60 percent of the time.

The NAACP, which released the report card at its national convention in Houston, said 232 of 435 members of the House failed to make the grade and 50 of the 100 senators.

On the flip side, 30 legislators supported the NAACP position 100 percent of the time, the group said.

Most of those getting an F were Republicans.

Washington, D.C.

FDA wants food labels to list trans fat amounts

WASHINGTON The government is moving to require the listing of artery-clogging trans fat on food labels after a report from the Institute of Medicine found there is no safe level in people's diets.

The Food and Drug Administration has been developing rules to require listing of trans fat on food labels. FDA food labeling chief Christine Lewis Taylor said her agency would act as soon as possible.

Because it is directly associated with the bad LDL cholesterol and heart disease, there is no safe amount of trans fat in the diet, and people should reduce their intake as much as possible, the Institute of Medicine said in its report.

Currently, the only way to determine if a food contains trans fat is to look for "hydrogenated" on the ingredient list.

Massachusetts

Priest pleads not guilty in church sex scandal

CAMBRIDGE A retired priest at the center of the church sex abuse scandal in Boston pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of sexually abusing four boys.

The Rev. Paul R. Shanley, 71, entered his pleas to 10 counts of child rape and six of indecent assault and battery. Bail was set at $300,000. He is accused of abusing boys from 1979 to 1989 in Newton, a Boston suburb.

Earlier this year, the Archdiocese of Boston released personnel files indicating that church officials had received complaints about Shanley as early as 1967 and that Shanley had advocated sex between men and boys.

Florida

Newest shuttle in fleet has cracked fuel lines

CAPE CANAVERAL NASA's newest shuttle was diagnosed Wednesday as having the same potentially dangerous problem as the rest of the fleet: cracked fuel lines.

The space agency has already delayed at least one flight and, despite weeks of exhaustive work, has no clear picture as to how or when the cracks occurred.

As of Wednesday, two cracks had been discovered in the metal liners of hydrogen-fuel lines inside Endeavour, the last of the four shuttles to be examined. The inspection was expected to continue today.

Columbia's scientific research flight, scheduled for a July 19 liftoff, is on indefinite hold. The two other shuttle flights this year are also in question.

Utah

Father of missing girl reports receiving letter

SALT LAKE CITY Elizabeth Smart's father said Wednesday he received a letter that he suspects may have come from someone with knowledge of his 14-year-old daughter's disappearance.

But Ed Smart said he couldn't say whether the letter, which was postmarked July 3 and received Tuesday, was credible. Police first saw the letter Wednesday afternoon but did not comment on it.

He appealed to the letter writer, who appeared to be an intermediary, to "please correspond with me to give me a reason to truly believe that he truly does have Elizabeth."